Lifecare Centre
Dragon Babies feels like the well-made play of the baby theatre world !
Here’s the thing about Dragon Babies; it’s really good. Dragon Song Productions have baby shows down. We follow kipper as she meets all the sea creatures who give her the colours of the rainbow to bring the coral reef back to life. The puppets are big and colourful and excellent, each baby gets a bag of age-appropriate props to play along with during the show, the performances are accomplished and there’s a really cool parachute with lots of dangly rainbow sparkly bits you get to hang out under and a rainbow light up butterfly cape. I think it’s probably good for baby development too, helping the older ones learn colours and numbers.
Despite all this, it left me personally a little cold. Although the show is interactive in as much as the performers come into the audience, it doesn’t feel like a genuine encounter: there’s no deviation from the script. I felt like the tone was set within the opening housekeeping speech, when we’re told not to let the babies play with the scratchy sounding props before they tell us its because “the noise is really annoying”. I know it’s a joke; but it’s also slightly bad vibes. Dragon Babies was a well-oiled machine (complete with picture ops and merch table post show) but I want a little more love and a little more chaos from a fringe show. Perhaps that’s what having a baby is all about.
If you’re looking for an entertaining, polished show to take your little person to, I would absolutely recommend. And undeniably, Boyo (now very nearly 8 months) loved it!
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